Draft appliance for railway-cars.



No. 687,467.. Patented Nov. 26, l90l'.

' G. WESTINGHOUSE.

DRAFT APPLIANCEFDR RAILWAY CARS. (Applipation filed. Oct. 18, 1900.Renewed Sept. 25, I901.) No Model.)

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GEORGE \VESTINGHOUSE, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

DRAFT APPLIANCE FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 687,467, dated November26, 1901,

Application filed October 18, 1900. Renewed September 25. 1901.

To 00% whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE WESTING- HOUSE, of Pittsburg, in the countyof Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new anduseful Improvement in Draft Appliances for Railroad-Cars, ofwhichimprovementthe following is a specification.

My invention more particularly relates to draft appliances which areemployed in connection with automatic couplers; and its object is toprovide simple, substantial, and inexpensive means by which strains ofdraft and buffing may be transmitted from a coupler to the spring orother resistance device by which they are taken up and which will inoperation obviate liability to uncoupling in passing around short curvesand relieve strains on the car-body which are encountered in passingcurves. with appliances of the constructions ordinarily heretoforeemployed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side view, partly invertical longitudinal central section, of a draft appliance,illustrating an application of my invention; Fig. 2, a plan or top view,partly in horizontal central section, of the same; Fig. 3, a similarview of the draft-strap and the adjacent portion of the draw-bar withthe forward portion of the draft-strap broken away; Fig. 4, a transversesection at the line a; a: of Fig. 3, and Fig. 5 an isometrical view ofthe pivot-block detached.

In the practice of my invention I provide a coupler-shank or draw-bar29, the outer end of which carries a coupler-head 30, to which a knuckle31 is pivoted by a vertical knucklepin 31. The coupler-head, which doesnot in and of itself constitute part of my present invention, isprovided with a suitable looking mechanism and may be of any suitable ofwhat is known as the vertical-plane or Master Gar-Builders type ofautomatic coupler. shank is pivotally connected, as presently to bedescribed, to a draft strap or yoke 27, which is adapted to surround andimpart strains received by the coupler-head to a draft and buffingapparatus of any known and preferred constructlon, which in thisinstance is shown as a spring 32, interposed between front and backfollower-plates 26 26 fitted in the draft- The coupler Serial it; rater.(no model.)

strap. A vertical recess 29 is formed cen' trally in the coupler-shankadjacent to its rear end to receive a pivot-block 29", said recess beingsegmental in horizontal cross-section at its rear end and, preferably,segmentally curved at its forward end. The face of the rear end of thecoupler-shank, which fits against the front follower-plate 26, is at andnear its vertical central plane at right angles thereto and is forwardlytapered, inclined, or curved from its middle portion to each of itssides, as shown in Fig. 2. The rear end of the pivot-block issemicylindrical and serves as a pivot, which is of such diameter as tofit neatly on the bearing-face formed by the rear end of the recess 29of the coupler-shank, and it is inwardly tape'red or inclined therefromto its forward end to afford lateral clearance in the recess. Openings29 extend vertically through the pivot-block for the reception of rivets29, by which it is secured to the draft-strap. The draft-strap is of Uform and open at its forward end, and its upper and lower members arepreferably turned inwardly to abut against the front end of thepivot-block 29".

In assembling the parts of the appliance the pivot-block is inserted inthe recess 29 of the coupler-shank, and the draft-strap 27 is slippedlaterally over the coupler-shank and pivot-block and secured to thepivot-block by rivets 29. Under this construction it will be seen thatthe rear portion of the pivotblock constitutes a vertical pivot, whichis connected firmly but removably when desired to the draft -strap, andto which the coupler-shank 29 is coupled at its rear end, thus admittingof the employment of an open ended draft-strap and permitting thecoupler-head 30to traverse in a horizontal plane within aproperly-limited range of movement when the car is passing around acurve, thereby obviating or substantially reducing the tendency touncouple on curves of short radius, which obtains where thecoupler-shaft and draft-strap are rigidlyconnected, and relieving theincidental strains on the car-frame. As the rear end of thecoupler-shank normally bears on the front follower-plate at its middleportion only and, as before described,

is forwardly inclined therefrom to each of its sides, the coupler-shankmay be moved latof its inclined end faces correspondingly moves thefront follower-plate 26, against which it abuts, causing it to bear morestrongly against the draft and buffing spring 32 on one side than on theother, and said spring as a resultant of such unequal lateral bearing ofthe follower-plate acts, when the car passes from a curve to atangent,to return the coupler-head to and maintain it in normalpositionthat is to say, with the longitudinal central plane of thecoupler-shank in line with that of the draft-strap and of the car.

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. Thecombination of a coupler-head, a coupler-shank fixed thereto and havinga vertical central recess adjacent to its rear end, a segmentalbearing-face formed at the rear end of said recess, a pivot-blockfitting freely in said recess and having a segmental pivotal facefitting the bearing-face thereof, and a draft strap or yoke rigidlyconnected to the pivot-block.

2. The combination of a coupler-head, a

coupler-shank fixed thereto and having a vertical central recessadjacent to its rear end, a segmental bearing-face formed at the rearend of said recess, a pivot-block fitting freely range of in said recessand having a segmental pivotal face fitting the bearing-face thereof, adraft strap or yoke rigidly connected to the pivotblock, afollower-plate bearing against the rear end of the coupler-shank, and aspring bearing against the follower-plate.

3. The combination of a coupler-head, a coupler-shank fixed thereto andhaving the middle portion of its rear end face at right angles'to itsvertical center plane and the side portions of said faceforwardlyinclined, a se mental bearing-face formed at the rear end of acentral recess adjacent to the rear of the coupler-shank, a pivot-blockhaving a segmental pivotal face fitti-ng said bearing-face, a draftstrap or yoke rigidly connected to the pivot-block, a follower-platebearing against the rear end face of the coupler-shank, and a springbearing-against the follower-plate.

4. The combination of a coupler-head, a

coupler-shank fixed thereto and having a vertical central recessadjacent to its rear end, a segmental bearing-face formed at the rearend of said recess, a pivot-block fitting freely in said recess andhaving a segmental pivotal face fitting the bearing-face thereof, saidpivot-block having its sides inwardly inclined from its pivotal face, adraft strap or yoke having an open front end, and rivets connecting saiddraft-strap to the pivot-block.

GEO. WESTINGHOUSE.

\Vitnesses:

J. SNoWDEN BELL, H. A. ORooK.

